Frequent Writer Archives

Indigenous weavers in Guatemala are challenging the appropriation of their identities by both national and transnational companies. On November 24, hundreds of indigenous weavers from across the country made the journey to Guatemala City to present congress with a series of reforms that would lead to the legal protection of their intellectual property rights as weavers.

The power of mobilized, united people was proven once again on December 4, when the Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit necessary for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) to be laid under the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s ancestral Missouri River. The Army announced that it would explore alternative routes. Despite these advances, victory is not assured.

Ever since the Corporate Form was "invented" - in its earliest avatar as the collective East India Companies - those who have ruled via corporation have found innovative "means" new to extract wealth from the earth and people, leaving both poorer in a zero-sum "game".

On December 4, 2016, Austrian Green Party candidate Alexander Van der Bellen was elected president against the far-right nationalist leader Norbert Hofer. The December 2016 vote took place against a background that has seen a steady rise of right-nationalist currents in much of Europe.

In the immediate aftermath of Trump’s electoral victory, progressives quickly remembered radical labor activist Joe Hill’s evocative call to his supporters on the eve of his execution—“don’t mourn, organize.” But Hill’s command is more of a battle cry than a battle plan. The most difficult question is still front and center: What is the best way to organize against Trump’s regime?

Drawing upon historical episodes and the more recent forms of right-wing violence, Building the Commune author George Cicciarello-Maher allows the reader to delve into a tangible Venezuela with a perspective that is conscious of political complexities and the historic importance of grassroots movements.

Fear and trepidation are slowly building up, as US President-elect, Donald Trump, is fortifying his transitional team with people capable of bringing about a nightmare scenario, not only for Americans but for the rest of the world as well. For Palestinians, however, the signs are even more ominous.